The Dom Identity (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 2)

Michael glanced around to make sure no one was listening in. The dining room he’d walked through had been loud and crowded, but they were the only ones here. “I mean my company has a client who was worried about her potentially influencing his wife. I was hired to make sure her intentions are pure. I had the same suspicions you did because I read the same articles and listened to that interview with her ex-friend. Ashton Banks is being paid quite well for that. Seventy-five thousand for the last TV interview. She’s made a whole career of talking about Vanessa.”

“I mentioned that, Momma,” JT pointed out. “You know how this goes.” He turned Michael’s way. “I’m here to make sure she doesn’t alienate you. She means well, but she can’t think straight when it comes to her family. George Jr. cornered her and put all kinds of thoughts in her head. She’s not some snob who won’t let anyone without a million dollars get close. You know that. Nina didn’t have any money and yet Momma accepted her fully.”

“Well, Nina is lovely. She certainly didn’t have any of these rumors hanging about her.” There were tears in his mother’s eyes.

Michael was seriously thinking about ending George Jr.

“No, but the press did write about her when we first got engaged,” JT reminded her. “And they wrote about me, too. They wrote about how I might have been involved in Dana’s disappearance.”

Michael’s heart constricted. Dana had been a dear friend, and she’d gone missing when they were in college. She’d never been found. No amount of money could fix the problem. She’d disappeared off the face of the earth, and they’d all had to deal with it. Given her close connections to the Malone family, they’d all come under scrutiny. They still did from time to time when some true crime podcast brought the case up again.

Now his mother’s tears fell on her cheek, and she reached out for JT’s hand. “They were quite terrible.” She released his hand and dabbed at her eyes with her napkin, and then that stubborn British will was right back in her eyes. “That doesn’t mean this Vanessa person isn’t after Michael’s money.”

“Michael is too smart to let that happen.” JT’s mouth shut the minute the server returned with the drinks.

Michael happily took his beer. He hadn’t driven. The restaurant was only two blocks from his place, so he could have a few and still walk home. Where Vanessa was probably lying naked in a bathtub, reading a book.

She would have no idea he was discussing her intentions with his family.

The server took their orders and left.

“Why isn’t Dad here for this interrogation?” Michael asked when they were alone again.

“It’s not an interrogation.” His mother sat back, her shoulders straight and a regal look in her eyes.

“Dad said you’re a grown-ass man, and if you want to sleep with a gorgeous woman with a past, you should do it.” JT’s tone had deepened, mimicking their dad’s. “He said George Sr. had obviously had it good, and then he and Momma had a big old fight, and he’s sleeping at the camp. Momma took those words to mean he’s looking for his own young hottie.”

“I certainly did not,” she replied. “But he was obnoxious about the whole incident. Called me meddling for wanting to protect my son.”

The camp was one of the many small cabins that dotted their sprawling ranch. They were meant to provide shelter in case one of the hands got caught in a storm or out on the range overnight. And yes, over the years they’d also provided shelter for their dad when he and Momma fought.

“I don’t need protection, and she’s not what you think,” Michael replied.

This answered one of his questions. His family would lose their shit if he brought Vanessa home. And he had to tell them something he never intended for Vanessa to know. He’d believed the photos Deke had found were fake, and Hutch had proven it. That first photo had been lifted from a photo shoot when she was barely twenty years old. That meant the rest had likely not been Vanessa at all.

So now he had to figure out who had written the blackmail letters and why they’d planted them on Vanessa’s machine. He didn’t believe for a second Vanessa had sent those letters. He thought it was Junior himself, but Ian had pointed out that Ashton Banks—Vanessa’s former friend—could have done it, too.

But none of it would matter because if he brought her home, he put them all in the line of fire. The press would go wild. He might be able to keep it all quiet for a while, but they would find out, and it could hurt his family.

“Apparently not, since I thought she was a girlfriend.” JT was staring at him in that big-brother-knows-best way of his. “She’s a…what would you call her?”